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Muscle cramps during competitions

Almost every time I have a badminton competition, I can only seem to play one or sometimes two matches before intense leg cramps, usually in the calf but sometimes also in the thigh. Its pretty frustrating to only be able to play at about half speed and lose several balls cause i get immobilized.

Anyone have an idea of the cause or have had similar experiences? I know the general causes of cramp are believed to be overworking the muscles and/or dehydration (sodium, magnesium), but I feel like neither of those can be the main cause to the cramps... I work the muscles probably ten times harder and longer during training than from one simple match of a competition, and I never get cramps normally. I usually drink Powerade at competitions too, but to no effect. I think last time I had it excluding competitions was two years ago with a very high intensive interval training for almost 3 hours with no water bottle.

One theory of mine might be that my muscles are much more tense in a competition than during normal exercise, and that I should learn to relax them better...
Another thing is that the competitions are usually early morning, and I'm not exactly a morning person. I rarely get enough sleep when I have to rise at around 6am and perhaps it might be an issue if the muscles aren't used to exercising early in the day?
What do you think?

I think you are right. If you have no problems when you train, then that eliminates the possibility of some rare disease or electrolyte disorder. Therefore your goal is to find a way not to tense up. Getting enough sleep is certainly one helpful factor. Best of luck.:-)

1. drink plenty of water with electrolytes and minerals immediately when you wake up in the morning.
2. stretch your calf and legs immediately when you wake up and between matches.
3. eat banana. Banana calms you down and contains good electrolytes and minerals.

1. drink plenty of water with electrolytes and minerals immediately when you wake up in the morning.
2. stretch your calf and legs immediately when you wake up and between matches.
3. eat banana. Banana calms you down and contains good electrolytes and minerals.

These are good general advice and I'm sure they will help. In my experience however the two things that affect me getting cramps are to firstly keep the muscles warm all the time and secondly to get fitter. I find that the fitter I am, the less prone to cramps I am. My muscles are less easily fatigued and so don't cramp as easily. During the winter or club nights when I know I'm not really challenged, I tend to keep my training top and bottoms on. In the summer, I'd put my training top and bottom back on between games.

Almost every time I have a badminton competition, I can only seem to play one or sometimes two matches before intense leg cramps, usually in the calf but sometimes also in the thigh. Its pretty frustrating to only be able to play at about half speed and lose several balls cause i get immobilized.

Anyone have an idea of the cause or have had similar experiences? I know the general causes of cramp are believed to be overworking the muscles and/or dehydration (sodium, magnesium), but I feel like neither of those can be the main cause to the cramps... I work the muscles probably ten times harder and longer during training than from one simple match of a competition, and I never get cramps normally. I usually drink Powerade at competitions too, but to no effect. I think last time I had it excluding competitions was two years ago with a very high intensive interval training for almost 3 hours with no water bottle.

One theory of mine might be that my muscles are much more tense in a competition than during normal exercise, and that I should learn to relax them better...
Another thing is that the competitions are usually early morning, and I'm not exactly a morning person. I rarely get enough sleep when I have to rise at around 6am and perhaps it might be an issue if the muscles aren't used to exercising early in the day?
What do you think?

1. drink plenty of water with electrolytes and minerals immediately when you wake up in the morning.
2. stretch your calf and legs immediately when you wake up and between matches.
3. eat banana. Banana calms you down and contains good electrolytes and minerals.

I use to stretch extra carefully in-between matches because of this, but it still comes back. I also warm up pretty well, and I bring a couple of bananas to every competition (even though from what I've read it isn't really proven that it prevents cramps). One thing I'm bad at though is "warming down", as are most people I believe. The cramps usually surface when I'm resting inbetween the games and then try to rise or walk. And no it doesn't really happen more frequently in the winter. I don't think it's a question of the body being cold.
I am quite young and pretty fit, of course you can always get in better shape but like I wrote earlier, I don't the fitness level is the main cause.